Wednesday NBA DFS: Injuries and Implications (3/7)

Tonight’s NBA main slate includes seven games over on DraftKings and six games on FanDuel (excludes 7p game). In this preview for tonight’s NBA DFS slate, we will cover notable statistics regarding players, teams, rotations, etc. and how these will effect the strategy that goes into building a NBA DFS team.

Derrick Favors is listed as question for Wednesday night’s game with neck spasms. In his absence on Monday, Jonas Jerebko entered the starting lineup and produced 20.5 DK points in 20 minutes of action. At a price of $3,500, he is definitely worth a look against a beatable Pacers frontcourt. Over the past four weeks, the only notable change in usage comes from Ricky Rubio – who saw a 2.6% decrease across 91.8 minutes. Here is the full usage breakdown:

Indiana:

No impactful injuries to monitor, as Darren Collison is not expected to return this week. Until then, Corey Joseph will continue to see 30+ minutes of action per night.

Toronto @ Detroit (TOR -5.0, 213.0 total)

O.G. Anunoby is still listed as day-to-day with an ankle injury. In his absence, Malcolm Miller has drawn the starts, but he is obviously not much of a fantasy option and C.J. Miles is the only player worth a dice roll here. While Anunoby’s absence doesn’t really shake up the team’s usage on offense, DeMar DeRozan surprisingly has seen a 2.6% usage bump over the past four weeks in 190.8 minutes without him on the floor.

Detroit:

Stanley Johnson missed practice on Tuesday and is questionable for Wednesday night’s game against the Raptors. It’s possible that we can see some more of Luke Kennard and Anthony Tolliver in his absence. The one thing that did jump out here was what happens with the second unit’s usage with Johnson off the floor. Dwight Buycks has a 32.4% usage rate in 34.8 minutes, which represents a 3.4% bump. The issue here is Buycks’ minutes, which have not been secure. If we can get 20 minutes of action out of him, it would certainly be intriguing.

Memphis @ Chicago (n/a)

Memphis:

The Grizzlies injury situation is a difficult one to track on a nightly basis, so my favorite way to keep everyone up to date is a nice, comprehensive bulleted list:

Jarrell Martin: Questionable (ankle)

Mario Chamlers: Out (hamstring)

Andrew Harrison: Out (wrist)

Tyreke Evans: Out (ribs)

If we run the CourtIQ, we see that perennial All-Star and household name Xavier Rathan-Mayes is now fourth on the team with a 26.1% after Monday night’s game against the Spurs. But for real, this is a good matchup and a lot of the Grizzlies will be in play against this Bulls team tonight. Here is the full usage and FD point per minute breakdown:

Ryan Anderson is going to test out his hip before Wednesday night’s game, but the expectation is that he’ll suit up on Friday night.

Milwaukee:

This is more of a minor note, but in Tyler Zeller’s absence on Monday night, Thon Maker played 18.5 minutes.

New Orleans @ Sacramento (NOP -5.5 224.0 total)

New Orleans:

The Pelicans will be playing on the second half of a back-to-back set on Wednesday night. Since this out before Tuesday night’s game, the status of Emeka Okafor (ankle) is still uncertain. I would expect him to be out on Tuesday night and questionable for Wednesday night’s tilt. In his absence on Sunday, the Pelicans started Nikola Mirotic alongside Anthony Davis in the frountcourt, but the biggest beneficiary here is Cheick Diallo. Without Okafor in the lineup on Sunday, Diallo put up 39.5 FD points in 23 minutes of action. He would be a great option at $4,300 against the Kings.

UPDATE: Emeka Okafor was active, and productive, last night against the Clippers. He should be in lineup again tonight, but keep an eye out for last minute news regarding his minutes in tonight’s back-to-back set.

Sacramento:

Willie Cauley-Stein did not practice on Tuesday night and should be considered questionable with a back injury. In his absence across two games this past weekend Skal Labissiere averaged 35.3 FD points in 30.5 minutes per game, while Kostas Koufos averaged 22.0 FD points across 25.0 minutes. However, Zach Randolph sat for rest on Sunday, so he’ll probably be back in action on Wednesday night. This will be a tricky situation, as Labissiere and Koufos both have pretty fair price tags for their recent production.

Cleveland @ Denver (DEN -2.5, 230.0 total)

Cleveland:

With Tristan Thompson out of the lineup, Larry Nance hung a massive stat line on the Pistons’ on Monday – going for 47.5 FD points in 31 minutes. FanDuel has priced him at an insane (maybe?) $7,500, but he is still very much in play over on DraftKings for $6,300. There are going to be spots to pay for Nance over the next few weeks with Thompson out, but paying a premium on FanDuel against the Nuggets is a tough ask.

Denver:

This is the second half of a back-to-back set for the Nuggets, so we’ll have to keep an eye on Paul Millsap. However, with that being said he played 27 minutes last Friday and followed that up with 26 minutes on Saturday against the Cavaliers (29.2 FD points). We can probably expect a full workload here as well.

Orlando @ Los Angeles Lakers (LAL -7.0, 226.5 total)

Orlando:

No impactful injuries to monitor.

Los Angeles Lakers:

Brandon Ingram will remain out of the lineup for the Lakers until next week. In his absence, several Lakers have stepped up and played some strong basketball. Here is how the Lakers production has looked over the past two games without Ingram: